Automatic vending machine



May 10, 1932. E. SCOTT ET AL AUTOMATIC VENDING MACHINE Filed Aug. 29,1930 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTORS Leslie E. Scott and Ernest A-Smc'th BYATTORNEY AUTOMATIC VENDING MACHINE Filed Aug. 29, 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet 2Fig.2

SNVENTORS Leslie E. Scott and 15 Ernest A.Sm(lh Q g g: ATTORNEY PatentedMay 16, 1932 UNITED, STATES PATENT? OFFICE LESLIE E. SCOTT AND RNES'J.A. SMITH, OF MN JOSE, CAIJIOBNIL AUTOMATIC VENDING MACHINE Thisinvention relates to automatic vending machines and principally to oneespeciallydesigned to handle and vend single blocksof ice of a certainsize. It is customary for ice companies at certain seasons to conduct aretail cash and carry business, the customers calling at the warehouseor other supply house for their ice, which is now delivered to them by asalesman who must be constantly at hand to takecare of their needs.This, of course, entails'a considerable expense to the ice companieswhich the volume OfbllSlIlQSS sometimes does not warrant. u Theprincipal object of our invention is to in connection with an iCesupply'house by means of which a customer, upon depositing a certainamount of money, will have a block of ice of corresponding valueautomatically delivered to him, or moved to such a position as to enablehim to easily manipulate the block of ice away from the premises. The

need of an individual salesman is therefore struct the machine so thatwhile it will holdv a goodly supply of ice, it is compact and cocupiesbut little space in a horizontal direc-- tion, and the saving of suchspace isusually quite essential .or desirable.

It is also an object of the invention to vend blocks of wrapped-ice fromthe conveye': portion of the I machine by means of a roller apronextending from the machine through a wall of the storeroom or icehouseto a point of delivery outside the same.

A further object of the invention is to provide a simple and inexpensivedevice, and yet one which will be exceedingly effective for the purposefor which it is designed.

These objects we accomplish by means of such structure and relativearrangement of parts as will fully appear by a perusal of the followingspecification and claims.

In the drawings similar characters of reference indicate correspondingparts in the 50 several views:

provide an apparatus adapted to be installed Fig. 3 is a fragmentary andmore or less diagrammatic View showing the ice controlled switch openingmember.

Fig. 4 is a diagram of the operating circuit of the machine. 7

Referring now more particularly to the characters of reference on thedrawings, the machine comprises a horizontal frame structure 1 whichsupports the end rollers 2 of an endless belt 3, on the upper run ofwhich a certain number of blocks of ice 4 are supported. One roller isadapted to be driven by an electric motor'5 by suitable drivingconnections therebetween which maybe of any desired character. Theroller and the belt are driven so that the upper run of the lattermoves,toward the forward end of the machine, from which end a downwardlysloping roller apron 6 depends. This apron projects through an opening 7in the front wall 8 of the building in which the machine.

is mounted and extends outwardly of the buildlng a suflicient distanceto support a block of ice when the latter is fully outside the buildingPivoted at its'upper end on a switch-box 9, which is mounted above therear end of the apron at a height greater than the height of an iceblock, is a forwardly projectlng and substantially horizontal arm unit10. This unittends to drop of its own Weight but is prevented-from sodoing beyond a predetermined limit by a stop 11 of suitable character.When the arm is in this position, a finger 12 thereon, which extendsinwardly of the switch-box, acts to hold the switch 13 closed, whichswitch tends to open of itself and is interposed in an auxiliary circuitA connected to the motor circuit C. When the arm is raised, the fingerdisengages the switch and the latter is opened. The closing of thisswitch alone, however, is not sufficient to completely close the motorcircuit, it being necessary that another switch M be employed.

This latter switch is of the magnet operated type, and is interposed inone side of the circuit C ahead of the connection of the circuit A withsaid side. The ma net of this switch is interposed in the auxil arycircuit A. The ma net will therefore not be energized even though theswitch 13 is closed, unless the switch M is first closed.

The initial energizing of the magnet necesceive a coin of the valuecorresponding to that of the block of ice. By means of this arrangementit will be seen that upon the customer depositing a coin, the circuit tothe motor is completely closed, since unless the arm 10 is engaged by ablock of ice, the switch 13 is closed. As soon, however, as the blockbeing dispensed reaches the apron and tends to slide down the same, itengages the arm and opens the switch 13. Since the magnet of the-switchM is held energized by reason of the closing of said switch after thecoin has passed by the switch S, as well as the closing of the circuitA, the breaking of said circuit A will of course de-energize the magnetand a. subsequent reclosing of the switch 13 will not again of itselfreclose the switch S. Only one block of ice at a time, therefore, willbe dispensed with the depositing of any one coin in the switch-box.

The outerend of the lever is adapted to be engaged and raised by a blockof ice as the latter leaves the belt and is received on the apron, asshown in Fig. 1 so that the motor circuit will be opened and the advanceof the belt halted .before. another block ofice is received on theapron. To enable .this arm to be raised to a switch-opening positionwith blocks of different heights, said arm is made in two swivellyconnected portions so that the outer end portion may be bent up ordownas may be necessary without disturbing the normal position of theupper portion. At the same time the two parts '1. The track slopes downtoward the rear end of'the belt substantiallysemicircular and concentrictracks 19 connecting the adjacent ends of the track 16 and the belt sothat the blocks of ice can move without disengaging each other, duringtheirtransfer from the track onto the belt. The trackways 19 constituteinner and outer portions, the inner portion having its inception on alevel with the upper track 16, while the outer portion having itstermination on a level with the belt. The space between the trackways 19is of course sufficient to enable the blocks of ice to move along thesame without danger of amming.

The blocks of ice are initially loaded as necessary onto the upper endof the track 16 and abut against each other. If they remain dormant forany length of time the blocks are of course apt to freeze together. Toautomatically break the blocks apart is necessary with the dispensingmovement of each block, the following device is provided: Fixed on theshaft of the rearmost roller 2 is an eccentric pin 20 whichintermittently engages one end of a horizontal lever 21 which is pivotedintermediate its ends in connection with the frame 1. At its oppositeend the lever engages the lower end of one of the pins 18 so that witheach revolution of the roller 2, an upward jarring movement is impartedto the adjacent upright 17 Such movement being somewhat sudden and beingimparted only to one side of the structure jars and twists the tracksufliciently to cause the ice blocks thereon to be disengaged from eachother if they have frozen together somewhat. A definite separation ofthe adjacent faces of the blocks of'course takes place when they reachthe curved trackways and also when they leave .the belt and pass ontothe delivery apron.

The apron-6 as shown is preferably of that type in which transverserollers comprise the block supporting means, so that the movement of theblock down the apron will be rapid and there will be no tendency for theblock to lag when on the apron.

From the foregoing description it will be readily seen that we haveproduced such a device as substantially fulfills the objects of theinvention as set forth herein.

While this specification sets forth in detail the present and preferredconstruction of the device, still in practice such deviations from suchdetail may be resorted to as to not form a departure from the spirit ofthe invention, as defined by the appended claims.

Having thus described our invention what we claim as new and useful anddesire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. An automatic block vending machine including a horizontal conveyor tosupport a row of blocks, an electric motor to drive the conveyor, acircuit for the motor including a switch, a pivoted arm above the planeof the III conve or and adapted to be engaged and raise by a blockleaving the convefyor, and means between the arm and switch or holdingthe latter closed except when the arm is thus raised; said armcomprising a pair of parts swivelly connected together .forrelativemovement in a vertical plane whereby to ermit of the engagement of saidarm by blocks of different heights without alterin the normal positionof the upper portion 0 the arm.

2. In an automatic vending apparatus having a horizontal and movableconveyer adapted to support a row of blocks, a relatively stationaryblock sup orting track, extendmg lengthwise of an above the conveyer andleading to the same at one end, a turntable member associated with theconveyer, means for driving the conveyer whereby said member will berotated, an eccentric element projecting from said member, a verticallymovable frame su porting the'track, and a horizontal lever pivotedintermediate its ends, one end of the lever being positionedto be.intermittentl engaged and depressed by the elementan the other endengaging the frame to then raise the same.

3. An automatic block vending machine including a conveyor to support arow' of blocks, an electric motor for driving the conveyor, a maincircuit for the motor, an automatic switch therein, an auxiliary circuita normally closed switch in said auxiliary circuit, a separate normallyopen switch in said auxiliary circuit, means actuated by a block leavingthe conveyor to temporarily open said normally closed switch and meansinterposed in the auxiliary circuit and actuated by the closing of bothauxiliary circuit switches simultaneously to close the main switch; said1 auxiliary circuit being arranged to be then held closed until theblock controlled switch is opened regardless of the intervening openinof the other auxiliary circuit switch. I

testimony whereof we aflix our signs,

tures. 1

LESLIE E. SCOTT. ERNEST A. SMITH.

